


Echoed Whispers

by TwilightsDawn



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:07:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21526471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightsDawn/pseuds/TwilightsDawn
Summary: Delphini is the child of two of the most recognized evil wizards in history, Lord Voldemort known now in history books, as Tom Riddle, and Bellatrix Lestrange. She knows that her parents were not good people. The Woman that took her in reminds her of this every day, she knows she hates her and knows if it wasn't for the check she got in the mail the witch would sooner abandon her to the wolves the second that the money stopped coming. She has to be hidden away from normal people, and wizarding families. She has been told this fact for most of her life. Except she gets a letter in the mail all the same with a bright red insignia burned in by candle wax and she knows this is the one chance that she has. The one chance to escape, learn and protect herself. She just had not realized just how far her parents evil stretched until she finds herself at Hogwarts. People hate her, people think that she is destined to turn out bad because of some prophecy that was made before she was born. Love is supposed to be the most powerful magic. Harry Potter wielded it they said. But if Harry Potter was so great and love was so amazing then why was it the one saving Magic that no one seems to want to share with her?
Comments: 17
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Something to write in my nonexistent free time. 
> 
> This is an AU as I don't like the original Cursed Child and think that they wasted a lot of potential for a character that is a child of the most horrible sort of wizards and witches.

Chapter One

there was a house in the middle of nowhere, on a Scottish shoreline, sandwiched between the cliffside and the forests that vastly spread behind it. The place always had a roll of fog that crept in from the sea and the thick mist protected the things that lived there. Animals thought to be extinct and ancient creatures hunched in the dark forests that stretched near endlessly for miles in every direction. Paths to the house were long forgotten and lost to the shifting trees. 

A little girl stood in the tall grass by the cliffside, there were times that she had almost stumbled off the edge as her caretaker had not really cared if she got close to the edge. She was just another thing from her to make a profit on. Delphini had seen the glittering gold and while she did not know much about the world she knew what money was. It was something that the woman liked to tell her that she threw away on Delphini's needs.

Not that Delphini really knew what the old hag spent it on. Ever since she could remember she had clothes that barely were held together and nothing to really play with but the sticks and creatures that would find themselves wandering close to the home. 

Delphini could understand some of them. They hissed things, whispered them to her and she considered them to be the one thing that she could count on finding. She would listen to their chorus of whispers and while it disturbed the hag that could not hear them. Delphini was content to have some sort of contact with something other than the woman that was claiming to raise her. 

The creatures were not kind, but they were not cruel either. Delphini learned quickly on that some snakes just because they could talk to her would not hesitate to try to eat her as it was the law of nature. It was the way things were. Yet she still would seek some of them out, with bits of raw meat or something she found dead in order to hear their tales of the world. A world that was away from the cliffside and the mist, away from the Witch. 

When she got older the Witch tried to lock her away in her room. But the thing about locks or enchantments of any kind were they would not hold against her magic all that well. Delphini could not help that it would sometimes explode outward violently, the more she tried to suppress it the more violent the outburst until she just let it drift around her. 

She could feel it if she really searched for it. It was in her blood and in her veins. She could see it float around her sometimes at night when she wanted to see it. Blue enchanted light to guide her into the forest where things of the dark spoke to her. 

Magic was something that she understood, while she did not know spells like the Witch in the house did, she could make things happen. She could unlock doors, for example, make things hover above the ground, and if she was angry sometimes she would make things shatter. 

The old Witch even if she could not keep her locked up all the time tried her best to keep her inside. She tried the best that she could to make Delphini hate herself too. Delphini's hair was white. Unnatural the woman called it, a sign of assumed better blood status. So the silver strands that were on her head were slashed and cut short, less work that way for the Witch to deal with and not much of a reminder of what she did not like. 

Her eyes were another thing that was off-putting apparently. Silver like the moonlight, and light in color like her hair, made her have a haunting gaze. A gift from the wrong side of the family according to the Witch and proof that she would be just as chillingly malicious. 

The small 3 dots on her leg that were darker freckles were even seen as a sign of evil as they looked like scales and the woman half-crazed attempted to spell them away only to create a few more. 

Delphini never knew her parent's real names, she was 11 years old soon to be 12 and she had never heard their real names. They had been called many, many things in front of her. Monsters was the favorite, second only to murderers, blood obsessors, and true evil. 

Delphini tried to picture them, what they would be like. She knew that they died in a war on the battlefield. By her only understanding, they were on the wrong side. Her whole family least the ones that were related to her had been. Some of them ending up in prison and some of them went into hiding. She heard that her mother was the worst sort because she had an affair to have her. 

Delphini did not know what that meant, but she didn't dare ask. 

If she closed her eyes she could picture them happy to have a baby though they could not care for her because of the war. They left to go fight and knew that they might not return, but wanted to come home to her. They wanted a child that they would teach their powerful magic to, even if it was misunderstood. 

People called things dark and evil all the time even if they weren't. Many things were misunderstood. Death was not kind but it was not evil either. If anything the screaking bird that warned her of her death constantly was misunderstanding the point about living. 

Delphini no matter how the woman claimed it, was not evil. She never had done anything to harm another on purpose other than to protect herself. 

She was good she knew it. So there was hope that her parents were just misunderstood too. 

If she really tried at night she could see black strands of hair and a small curved red smile. It was all that she could picture though and so she held that image close. It was one of the few comforts that she knew of. She would think to herself maybe they weren't dead, maybe they would come back someday. Other times it was harder to picture anything, or anyone ever caring for her at all. 

Today she stood on the cliffside looking down at the rushing of water, out on one of the branches sticking out of a fallen tree, a snake hung low. It was hissing out words that were lost to the wind, but Delphini could hear the slight terror in that call. It was a small snake, not poisonous. She had learned about snakes the hard way. 

She climbed out slowly the tree shifting slightly under her weight, the groans were chilling but she kept walking. One small foot in front of the other. She did not fear death, death was the only thing that was certain and it would come for her when it so chose. She knelt slowly down feeling the wind give a hard shove against her.

'come' she hissed at it. 'I will help you.'

The long snake blinked and stuck out its tongue, it was like a small red thread. It twisted a little away from her and she just managed to grab it before the wind blew hard and it would have fallen. 

Its shining black eyes looked at her as she pulled it up to safety. It bit a bit down on her hand as she struggled to walk back to onto solid ground. She stumbled and fell hard when she got off the log and the snake slithered off towards the woods.

'Hey!' she called after it running to catch back up. her hand dripped a couple of drops of blood as she tried to put pressure on it. 

The snake paused in its movements. 'Thanksss." It hissed before it was lost in the tall grass.

She huffed as she sat down, it figured that it would not stay. Nothing wanted to stay with her, least not for long. 

She looked over towards the skyline. The Witch would be back soon, she was always back before dark and Delphini had best be either secure in her room or out in the woods when that happened. She rose to her feet and made her way back towards the house. When she opened the door there was mail, she placed it onto the counter hardly able to see in the candlelight. 

She blinked when she saw a letter addressed to her. Yes while the Witch was cruel she would not have a stupid brat in her company, reading had gotten her into some trouble a couple of times. But she had never seen her name written across parchment before other than the few times that she had tried to scroll out her name using an ink quill. 

To: Delphini Riddle was written in curved beautiful letters. 

She blinked rereading it again this time the whole line. 

To: Delphini Riddle, of the house on the cliffside, room in the attic. 

No one had ever written to her. She flipped it over to see a candle wax dried stamp and a crest that she had never seen before. 

She traced the writing with her fingers, lovingly, softly wondering who would care enough. 

The door to the front was jiggled and she quickly stuffed the letter underneath her shirt and ran to her room. The Witch paused in her movements by her closed door and Delphini made sure to hold her breath as the door handle was checked. The Witch muttered something and then went towards the living room. 

Delphini hid behind the dresser as she opened the letter carefully. She didn't know what she hoped that it would be. A letter from a parent or family member felt far too much to hope for. Not with how things had been described to her. But she did not expect the parchment to be an invitation for acceptance at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

This was her chance... This was her chance to meet some people and get away from this place. She read over the letter again and again. It was like a gift that had been sent to her, a chance to learn magic. 

She looked over the books that she would need with the slight fear that she wouldn't be able to get any of them. She had no money. She did not own an owl but she could fill out the paperwork and maybe ask for help getting to the school. Maybe someone would collect her if she did that. Sneaking to send the letter to them would be the hardest part. She would have to use the Witch's owl and it did not like her all that much. The Witch would never have to know about it. She could do this, she nodded to herself. She was going to that school all things be damned.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

There were two options for her attempt to send the letter she could wait till the witch was asleep or she could wait until she left again. Either way it was risky. 

She took out her old quill and did her best to write out a reply.

~~~‘Thank you for the invitation to come and learn at your school.’~~~

She paused. 

Perhaps she should be more formal, she quietly took another price of parchment and started again. 

~~‘Dear whom it may concern, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to come to learn at your…’~~~

How did one spell prestigious?

She would have to do her best.

~~‘Prestigious school. I would be more than delighted to attend.~~’

Yes, that sounded smart, she liked that. 

~~~I, however, do not have the means to get there alone as my caregiver….~~~

She cringed as she wrote the word, but pressed forward. 

~~~Does not have the means to get me to Hogwarts alone. I would be in need of an escort if it is not too much of an inconvenience.~~~

Please don’t be she silently prayed. I want to leave this place. I have to get out. 

She signed her name neatly, rereading it carefully to make sure that things looked right she was not too sure about some of the spelling but wasn’t what they taught in schools?

She decided to wait until the witch was gone again weekends it was a bit iffy about how long that she would be gone for but Delphini would have to try to be fast. She would not risk the letter being stopped or intercepted.

In the morning when it was time for chores, Delphini made sure that she rolled her reply tightly and stuck it up her sleeve. She waited till the time to feed the owl to make her move.

She brought it an extra treat so that it would be okay with her touching its leg and then she sent it on its way. She watched it climb higher and higher into the sky taking her hope for the future with it.

Delphini waited with bated breath for what felt like days. She was scared that she would be found out. The fear of the witch cursing her or punishing her for use of her owl without consent was nearly to the point where she was sick. 

The mail made her scared whenever it was not her that was the one that was able to retrieve it. 

Finally, after a week she received a reply. She had to stuff it in her sleeve again to hide it as the Witch demanded the mail and for Delphini to help clean up the owls shed. 

When she was alone outside she opened the envelope. 

________________________________________________________

Dear Miss Riddle,

We would be more than happy to send one of our staff members   
to retrieve you on the first of August.

_____________________________________________________

She had a date. She clutched the letter to her chest as if it were her only lifeline. While she was distracted the owl bit down hard on her arm and she swatted at it. 

She finished up cleaning before making her way back to the house. 

The Witch was waiting for her in the kitchen the food was going to be done soon. Delphini could smell the stew and feel the slight heat that came from the kitchen stove. She was tired, dirty, and hungry but she did not dare to ask for anything knowing that food would come if the work that she did was acceptable. Delphini did not understand why she had to clean when magic could have just wiped it away in seconds, it usually did a better job then what she could do. 

“Delphini,” the Witch called and she paused her retreat towards her room. 

“Yes.” She said trying to sound more confident than she felt, making her way closer to the kitchen. 

“I was I was in your room earlier.”

Delphini felt her breath catch. “You were?”

She watched the older woman turn to face her, the woman was frowning just like she always was. Delphini had only seen her smile when the next package came to pay her for watching over her. 

“Yes, and I found something, care to explain?” The woman’s thin fingers curled around the spoon she had in her hand. 

“What did you find?” Delphini asked weakly an apology ready on her lips if she had to. She would beg and she would do whatever it took to go to school. She would suffer whatever punishment it was for lying or going behind the woman’s back. It would not be pretty, but she would suffer it, if she could leave and never come back. 

“I found ink and a quill.” The woman narrowed her eyes, “What have you been writing? More demonic symbols?”

She felt her breath leave her and the tension leave her body lessened, she did not find the letter. 

“No of course not ma'am.” She did not dare to look away.

They were drawing they had no meaning. She had just liked them. She could not help that the only thing that sat still enough for her to draw were snakes. She could not help that they were the closest thing that she had for company either. 

The woman shewed her away so she could finish the food and Delphini prayed that the Witch would be gone on August first so she could simply slip away.

The weeks to her escape were long and tiring. She packed a few things into a small bag so that she would be ready to go. She knew where the Witch kept some gold and she knew how to get it open. The money was rightfully Delphini’s it was the payments that someone in her family made for her to be kept safe and have a home.

It was not much of a home and she needed to have some money to buy books and a wand. She could maybe take on a bit of work for a few more coins or maybe someone could point her in the right direction of her family. Certainly, it had been long enough after the war to come back or to maybe have some of them released for lesser crimes. 

Maybe they could help her. 

Maybe they didn’t know about her and when she met them they would welcome her. 

They would love her. 

Delphini wanted to be loved. She wanted family and friends more than anything. She had been denied a lot in her short 11 years but she was so hopeful that everything would work out. She held onto her blanket as she went to sleep with vague memories of black walls and curly hair. 

On August 1st the door was knocked on by a very large man. The largest man that Delphini had ever seen in her life. He was so large that she only came about his waist in height and she feared that he would break the door if he were to come in. His hair was long and grayed as well as his bread that was a bit frizzy as it blew in the wind. 

He had to be the person that had come for her. There had never been another soul besides her and the Witch in the house. Not even when Delphini had been deathly ill had anyone ever come. 

“Hello.” She greeted, slightly nervous to meet another person. 

She was wearing the best of the ratty clothes that she owned and had stolen a few coins out of the drawer. She had a small bag and that held some clothes a few of her books that she owned, a hairbrush, and a small tattered blanket that she knew was from when she was born. It had a small D sewn into it and a small skull that had once had a snake near it but the fabric had frayed from being the thing that Delphini clung to at night whenever she had a nightmare. 

“Hello.” The man repeated in a gruff but not harsh voice. 

“Are you here to collect me?” She asked politely. “I have my things ready to go.” 

The large man looked down at her and then at what she was holding. “Where is it all?” He asked.

“I am sorry sir, where is all of what?” She looked up at him as he bent down to fit through the door frame. 

“Your things.” The man said as if it were that simple.   
“This is all I own sir.” She tried her best to look dignified. Snakes told her that no matter of one was shedding that they must look tall and proper. They could not afford to look weak or a predator could end them. Not that she thought this man would hurt her, but he could decide that she did not have the right ‘stuff’ and then she would be left behind. 

Left here in this place, abandoned… all over again.

The large man seemed to soften a bit at that. “Come then, we need to get your supplies then young Delphini.”

She smiled at him as he held out his large hand to her. 

“My name is Rubeus Hagrid and I am one of the Professors at Hogwarts, course you know a bit about that place don’t you?”

She nodded slowly, “I know a few things.” 

She glanced towards the clock as it dinged. They needed to get going or the Witch would be back and Delphini did not want to risk the woman putting a stop to her fleeing with a good chunk of the coins from the drawer. 

They made their way outside and Delphini took one last look at the shabby house on the cliffside, it was all that she had ever known and yet she didn’t think that she would miss it all that much.

Diagon Alley was a wondrous place, she could not stop her head from being on a swivel as she looked around at the people around her. She held onto Hagrid’s robe not because she was scared but she did not want to get separated from him in the crowds. People looked at them but they didn’t seem to be paying them much mind. In the first few stores, she was able to buy her books with no issue. 

Hagrid helped her with the currency because she honestly did not have a clue what things cost or were worth. 

“Were you raised by Muggles,” Hagrid asked when they stopped for some food. 

Delphini shook her head. “I was raised by a Witch.” 

She did not want to talk about her, no doubt she was tearing the house apart and the woods looking for her.   
Hagrid looked at her confused but Delphini did not know if she really wanted to talk about her life. She did not want pity. Life was not kind to her, but she would rather have it continue to be unkind than to guilt someone into feeling like they owed her anything. 

She played a little with her hair it liked to grow when she was nervous, it was not something that she really could control and soon it was past her shoulders and with no signs of stopping. She let go when Hagrid tapped her lightly to knock her out of it. 

“Sorry.” She panicked and said out of habit more than anything.

“It’s alright.” Hagrid stood putting money onto the table and picking up the cauldron that had her books and a few other things that she would need to be placed inside of it. “You should be heading to get a wand now, I have a bit of business to attend to. I will meet you outside the shop.”

She looked at him, and then the people around her. She did not really want him to leave because he was the first person that showed her any kindness and this place was new to her and confusing. 

She supposed that she could do this. 

She had to get a wand, it was one of the things at the very least that if she learned how to use it could protect herself. 

She gave a hard determined nodded and made her way towards the old wand shop. There was a man inside that looked like he had to be over a hundred. He was hunched over and his hair was whiter and thinner than freshly fallen snow. 

“Hi.” She greeted raising her hand as Hagrid had to a few people that they had passed on the street. 

The man looked at her, his eyes were hidden under thick glasses. “Morning.” He said roughly. “My apprentice should be able to help you.” 

A young man made his way up to the counter. “I'll get it right this time grandfather.” He smiled largely and the old man shook his head already done with his grandson’s antics apparently. 

“Let’s see…” The man talked to himself as he pulled out a box. “Try this one.”

He handed it to her and she took it carefully. 

“Well tell her to wave it.” The old man said from his place on the sidelines. 

“I was going to, let me handle this please or I will never learn.” The man sighed and Delphini waved the want. It broke the nearby glass inkwell. 

“Not that one, apparently.” The young man ran to get another one. 

Things kept breaking and Delphini felt a bit bad for her actions, even though the young man insisted that these things happened. When he went to get the 20th wand, the older man brought her one. 

“Try this one.” His hands shook a bit with age as he handed the box over. 

She waved it and felt her hair stand up a bit, it was hard to explain it, but it felt like she had found a missing piece of herself. 

“Interesting, interesting.” The old man muttered to himself a couple of times as if a broken record. Before she could ask him what he meant he seemed to have made up his mind to tell her.

“It is interesting that you are destined for this wand because your mother’s wand was made of the very same walnut tree just a few years before this one. It was one of my more interesting works, this wand I would say was sitting around waiting for you.”

She felt the wood with her fingers. “My mother…” She started.

The old man nodded. “It is 12 and a half inches and has a unicorn hair core...” 

“You knew my mother.” She cut him off. 

The old man grimaced. “All too well.” 

Her heart tightened, did that mean that he knew that she died and felt bad about it or was he like the Witch, was he saying that he did not like her. 

“Grandfather you took over again.” The young man started arguing with the older man and Hagrid told her it was best just to leave the gold on the counter. 

As they exited the shop, Delphini felt the courage to ask Hagrid if he knew her parents. He said that he didn’t know them personally but knew of them and refused to talk more about it. He seemed angry about talking about them. 

She didn’t know how to feel about people’s reactions to her parents. She still knew that the wand that she now held in her hand was related to her mother. Her mother that she could see the black hair to if she closed her eyes.   
She felt her hair it had curls to it like her mother’s, even if the color was strange and must have been from her father. She needed to learn about them. Someone must be willing to talk to her about them.

She shifted the topic to what Hagrid had been up to and he smiled largely and took her to the pet shop where he apparently had arranged for her to pick up a spotted owl. It wasn’t necessarily a gift but it was something that he felt that she would want and he was owed a couple of favors. The owl had such pretty black eyes. It was not like the Witch's owl either as it was friendly to her and let her stroke its feathers. She supposed that it would be her first real pet and hopefully a friend. 

Delphini spent the night at the leaky cauldron it was paid for by Hogwarts apparently and she would be headed to the school by train. She put on her new robes that morning and made her way with Hagrid to the platform. She dragged her trunk behind her it was heavy and let her owl sit on the handle. She got a lot of weird looks and it was not easy to shake that uneasy feeling she had. The train was near impossible to find and she was glad that Hagrid had pointed her in the right direction and then took most of the staring away as he made his way down the platform in the opposite way as a seemingly large distraction. 

She gripped at her robe as she boarded the train. She did not let them take her owl from her. She wanted it with her. She still needed to name him, so as she found an empty car to sit in she started listing off names and looking for a sign that her pet liked at least one of them.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 

The car shook a bit as the train started to pull from the station. Her door slid shut on its own as the force of the train in motion proved too much for it. It made her jump slightly and pause in her attempts to find something suitable for her companion. Delphini had nearly tried all the names that she had heard of and none of them seemed to pass her feathery friends standards. 

"Do you like Eclipse?" Delphini asked the large bird and it just cocked its head to the side. 

No so not that one. 

She put her hand to her lips and thought about the few books that had appeared in the house and about the snakes that she had met in the woods. Proper names were powerful, why some snakes said that if one was ever to find out their true name, not the name they were given when they were born, but the names that the stars had given that they would become unstoppable. 

Now she didn't know about all that, but one of the snakes had taken a name, he was one of the big ones. His eyes were yellow and deep. He claimed that if she did not have special blood running in her veins that she would have died just by looking him in the eyes. The large snake had slunk back down into the earth as they slept for centuries if they so choose and she had not seen it in a couple of years. 

"How about Aniz its a fairly proper name?" She asked brushing a few of the feathers back down, flattening them. 

It was the shortened version of the name of the snake, it meant powerful and she was sure that any pet of hers would need such a name. She had heard that her father was a powerful wizard and that people would know his name and fear it. Names held power and her Owl had to live up to her name, she had to live up to hers. 

The Owl made a soft click. She smiled at him stroking him again up the belly feathers. 

"Aniz it is." Delphini laughed as the owl nipped genitally at her fingers, the movements playful and not at all painful. The door to her car made a soft click as a boy stood there and looked slightly uncomfortable and embarrassed. 

"Hi." He said softly. 

"Hello." She greeted.

"Do you mind if I sit in here, everywhere else is full?" He was carrying a small bag but nothing else. 

Delphini felt a bit uneasy, because of her lack of social experience, but she could at least try she supposed. She shook her head. Aniz made a small hoot. 

"I'll even share some of my snacks..." the boy seemed to take it as she had refused to let him stay.

"What I mean is I don't mind if you stay." Delphini gestured towards the whole open bench across form her. 

There really was no reason for her to sit all alone. She just had not wanted to intrude in someone else's car. People had given her a few strange looks when she passed their cars, she was starting to think that perhaps there was something wrong with her. Whatever the others saw this boy clearly didn't or he wouldn't have asked to stay. 

"Thanks." The boy sat he had light hair, it was blonde nearly as light as her hair. His eyes though they were like hers, a soft silver that glittered in the lighting of the car. He was thin, probably too thin for a boy his age and his face was that of a heart a little wider in the top and coming to a nice curve at the chin. He gripped at his knees with thin long-fingered hands that looked like he bit the nails of when he was nervous. 

"Ummm." The boy shifted in his seat.

"Sorry." Delphini brought her hands together and close to her she was being creepy probably looking at him like that. "I didn't mean it stare it's just I have never seen someone with eyes like mine before."

He tiled his head. "You haven't?" 

He was moving a bit in his seat so that he could see her eyes and she felt her face heat a little by the movement. He smiled a tad at her and it made her think that at the very least he did not think that her gaze was haunting. 

"No." She shook her head. "Though admittingly I have not met many people."

"I haven't either." The boy confessed, his pale skin getting a bit red in the face. "My mother often gets sick and it stops us from traveling. There were no other kids where I grew up."

Delphini opened her mouth to tell him that she understood that, but the words would not come out. So all she managed was, "I am sorry." 

"I think this one should be empty enough." A redhead paused as she opened the door. There was a boy with her that had dark hair and he being slightly taller peered over her shoulder to see what was going on. 

"Hi." Delphini greeted waving her hand a little bit. "There is plenty of room." 

The shy blonde nodded. "I could move over," he offered.

"That's okay." The girl said and quickly tried to backtrack away from them taking the other boy with her by dragging him by the wrist to another compartment.

The blonde looked sad and Delphini felt her heart constrict a little as she watched their hasty retreat. 

"They left because of me." He said shaking his head, folding his arms almost protectively in front of him. "I heard her father tell her to stay away from me and beat me in every subject..." 

"Well, that is just rude." Delphini felt her temper raise its ugly head. She had to take a few breaths because her magic might get a bit out of control and then perhaps she would scare way a potential friend. 

"Not to be unexpected though." The boy seemed to accept his fate, slouching and looking very defeated. 

She moved over and Aniz flapped to get over to the other side of the car with her. "Even if they left, I won't. I want to be your friend if you will let me. See I never had one besides Aniz before." 

She didn't want to mention that she had known Aniz for maybe 24 hours or less, not that it made a difference. She was very happy with her owl. Even if she didn't have anyone she at least had her bird. 

"You won't want to be." He shook his head. "I am a Malfoy and everyone thinks that we are evil."

That sounded so familiar and she perhaps found someone like her that had parents on the wrong side. She wondered if she could ask him about them, but then she really did not know their names. She just knew that they were gone and that one had black hair. Not much to go by, and currently, the only people that knew who they were wouldn't tell her. 

"Everyone thinks I am evil too." Delphini looked into his eyes taking his hands in hers. She just instinctively knew that was something to do to comfort someone. "I never knew my parents they died in a battle, they were on the wrong side of a war that I know nothing about. So your last name means nothing to me. I just know you as the kind boy that offered to share snacks and wanted to sit with me."

"That's all you know about me though." He defended. 

"And I will get to know more about being your friend." She smiled the biggest smile that she could. Smiling hurt her face a little, she was not used to trying to show emotions. "My name's Delphini by the way."

"I'm Scorpius." He smiled a little.

Delphini had Scorpius tell her about the houses and about Hogwarts, in general, it was pretty exciting the idea of having a house that would be like family. She wanted family desperately, she admitted that she liked the idea of one. Scorpius had a pretty nice family by what he was willing to share at the moment. 

As the hours passed Scorpius shared some of the snacks that his grandmother had shared with him. They were really good and Delphini did not hesitate to tell him that. She had never eaten anything that was so sweet before. She fell asleep to the rattling of the train. 

Scorpius woke her so that they both could get out of the car and make their way to the platform.

"Hagrid!" Delphini greeted Scorpius shifted a little behind her. She knew that Hagrid could be a little intimidating what with the fact that he was so large, but Delphini was happy to see a familiar face even if it was that of a teacher and not a friend. 

"Hello, Delphini." Hagrid greeted before raising his voice to call first years close to him so that he could give them directions. When he was done, Delphini stayed close to him watching as others made their ways towards boats with record speed so that they could be with friends that they had made on the train. 

"Can I ride with you." She looked up at the half-giant. "I don't know how to swim and I'm a bit nervous." 

The water was black and she had never been in a boat before, she had never really been in water other than the tub. It was a bit frightening to think that the water could be deep and she could be lost under the waves. 

"Course you can." Hagrid patted her a little on the back and Delphini looked back at Scorpius motioning him to follow and he did with it seemed her permission. 

The castle was lit up in the distance and the lake shimmered in the lantern light. It was still dark and reminded her of the ocean by her home. The thought of the Witch made her grab a little onto Scorpius as the boat was lowered into the water. Hagrid joined them moments later nearly causing her to fall out by the rocking that it caused. Luckily Scorpius had fast reflexes and was able to stop her from tumbling out. 

Hagrid complemented him gruffly on his catch. 

The ride was smooth and she soon started to relax as the other side got closer and closer. Her relaxation did not last long as she realized that they had to be sorted next and there was a possibility that she wouldn't be with her new friend.

"What house do you want to get into." She asked as they made their way into the castle. 

It was lit by hundreds of torches that burned brightly. The corridors were wide and she immediately felt like she had stepped into a wonderous place. she could feel the magic radiating off of the place. She could push on it if she felt hard enough. There was a call to this place much like the ones that she was used to feeling around the woods. 

"My family has always been in Slytherin." he shrugged, "Usually the hat takes that into consideration." 

She wondered what house her family was from, but given how well she got along with snakes she could guess. 

"I hope that I am sorted with you, then we will have all our classes together." She smiled slightly, trying to hide how worried she was knowing her luck she would be sorted in with the redhead that thought that she shouldn't make friends with Scorpius for something as simple as having the last name that he did not like. 

Delphini couldn't help but find that to be low and she didn't see herself forgiving the other for that, least not for a long time. 

A young woman introduced herself as Luna Lovegood and the defense against the dark arts teacher. She got a lot of looks because of her name, but Delphini had no idea who she was and Scorpius had to explain that she was one of Harry Potter's friends and he nearly fainted when she had told him that she did not know who that was. She lied and said that she was raised by a Muggle because that made it easier. The only one that would have known the truth was Hagrid and she would lie to cover that slip up if she had to. She did not want to say that she had been abused her whole life, because that was what it was. She would rather people just think that she knew nothing because of that than take pity on her. 

She wanted Scorpius to think that she was strong because one of them had to the confident one. She would stand up for him if she needed to. 

It felt bad to lie though... She just really didn't want anyone to know that she only owned 2 robes and she certainly did not want them to think that she was a charity case. Hogwarts was giving her financial aid as it was. She had been approved if any of the papers that Hagrid had given her when they met was anything to go by. She would be getting a small bit of money towards the middle of the term to buy things she needed for the second. They also were going to give her a few more robes that were slightly used. She felt like a charity case even though she was not above admitting that she needed it. 

The sorting began and names were slowly called. Delphini watched several of the kids get sorted into Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. The hat would mutter things before it would cry loudly for everyone to hear its verdict. 

The girl that had left them in their car was Rose Granger- Weasley. She had beautiful red hair and she had changed into a nice black robe. The hat had barely reached her head before she was sorted into Gryffindor. Her face lit up and she glanced at her friend and the boy that had been with her on the train gave a little wave.

There were whispers about how it made sense where she was sorted as both her legendary parents had been sorted there. Delphini didn't see what the big deal was, but she supposed that was something that she missed by not being really in the loop for most things Wizard. 

"Scorpius Malfoy." Luna smiled as she called his name in her near the dream-filled tone and Deliphini felt him stiffen slightly next to her. 

"You will be fine," Delphini whispered to him giving his hand a slight squeeze and he gave a worried glance at her and made his way onto the steps to the stool. A lot of whispers were thrown around including child of Death Eaters and a few words like bloody purists. They were things that she had heard before but knew nothing about. She could tell though that they were insults and that even more people were judging her friend despite knowing nothing about him. 

Her face heated a bit with her anger, as someone leaned on her to get a better look as the hat seemed to be trying to figure out where to place Scorpius she shoved them away from her as they said that the only house he could belong to was the snake pit. They stumbled and looked at her a bit angry as their name was called. 

Delphini watched them with a scowl as they were sorted into Griffindor. 

She didn't like this process anymore. Sorting them seemed like not just for friendly competition anymore but rather a way to divide people up and give others excuses to look down on others. If there was one thing that Delphini hated was when people were bullies to others. She would also say that she hated people that were closed-minded and scared of things they did not understand but that was more of her experience with the Witch then anything else. 

"Albus Severus Potter." The boy from before moved forward whatever confidence that he had shown was gone. He was placed rather quickly into Slytherin which was a surprise to everyone involved and people were freaking out that a Potter was sorted there. 

She did not understand what the problem was with Slytherin but everyone seemed to be against those that were sorted there, even though those in Slytherin seemed to welcome anyone that was called into their house. She wouldn't care if she was sorted there because her friend was there and she wanted to be there with him. If he was going to face problems then perhaps she could help him.

It was always so horrible to go at it alone. She wished that Aniz was with her. Her bird would have given her some comfort as she waited for her name to be called with baited breath. 

A few more names were called and then her name was called. "Delphini Riddle." 

People turned there heads and she did her best to ignore it. Whispers started and she sat on the stool to be sorted. 

"Difficult." The hat said on her head the way that it moved felt odd. "there is a lot here to look at."

"Slytherin." She thought.

"Ah yes, your parents were sorted there weren't they? There is ambition here to live up to their magic capability, and resourcefulness."

Delphini supposed that she had ambition she wanted to be the best witch that she could be to protect herself and one day be able to support herself. She also wanted more than anything to understand who her parents were and be as powerful as they were. She was not sure if she was resourceful, she just did anything that it took to survive and yes that had included her doing a few things that were not necessarily good things to do like stealing, but Delphini did not feel that it was really stealing when those sort of things should have been given to her regardless. 

"There is also bravery here and Chivalry." The hat continued. "You have helped many creatures haven't you Delphini that were weaker than you and you still wish to help others."

"Slytherin please." She said quietly, "I can protect Scorpius there, I can be brave in any house." 

The hat seemed to think about that. "Are you sure, you could be great in Gryffindor and would show that the path that you are on is not bound by family history."

"No." She spoke perhaps loud enough to be heard by others, "I would like to be placed there instead."

"If you are sure..." The hat paused, giving her a chance to change her mind.

"yes." She nodded.

"Slytherin." The hat announced and Delphini took her walk slowly picking up whispers of Death Eaters and curses as she sat down next to Scorpius that moved slightly over for her.

"Delphini." He asked quietly, "Your last name is Riddle?" 

"Yes." She nodded. " I know that its not a common last name, but that is just the way that it is." 

"Are you related to..." He trailed off, seeming to rethink his statement. 

"I never knew my parents, I kept my father's last name," Delphini said the sorting hat wanted to put me in Gryffindor but I asked to be placed here. A few Slytherins looked at her with wide eyes as they had been eavesdropping on her conversation. 

"It wanted to put you in Gryffindor?" He blinked.

"The hat said that I was brave and have a lot of qualities that were knight-like." Delphini shrugged. "I asked it to be placed with you." 

He looked at her with a look that was a bit odd and she was unsure what that look meant. He looked happy though as he looked at the plates that had started to appear on the tables. 

"It listens to requests?" Scorpius looked over towards Albus Potter and the boy scowled at him and turned away. Delphini frowned at the kids turned back.

What a jerk. 

"Well, I think it gives you a choice between houses when it is stuck between deciding where you should go." Delphini shrugged. "And I sort of liked the idea of being sorted into the house that my family came from. I also am quite fond of snakes."

"I'm not fond of snakes," Scorpius muttered.

"Why not?" She blinked because the symbol of the house they were in were snakes. 

"They slitter and can be poisonous, and my father told me horror stories about this one that the Dark Lord owned." 

She didn't ask who the dark lord was she just wanted to understand why he didn't like snakes. "I like snakes they are one of the few animals that I can talk to." Delphini fidgeted a bit. "though they can be quite clever and a couple of them have tried to eat me over the years because I encroached on their territory." 

"You can talk to snakes?" Scorpius lowered his voice so that they were now talking in hushed tones. "Listen that is not something to be proud of."

"Why?" she asked feeling greatly confused.

"Its the mark of a dark wizard because there have only been a few people that have been able to do it," Scorpius explained to her.

Her brow furrowed. "But it's just talking, there are other things that can talk that are far worse like giant spiders and these shadow things that live in the woods outside my house." 

"Where did you live?" Scorpius looked very confused. 

"I might have exaggerated about my caregiver being a Muggle, but she might as well have been. We lived far away from everyone, and she was not happy that I was dropped off to live with her. She had magic she just refused to use it for anything and we didn't know much about what was going on outside of our home. We lived in an older house by a forest and I used to wander it all the time. I have met a lot of creatures." 

"And they didn't scare you." Scorpius leaned in his seat the sorting was done and an older lady was making announcements. 

"Well yeah they sometimes did, but they would want to talk with me, long as I brought something to give them for their efforts." 

"What did the shadow things look like," Scorpius asked a bit excitedly wanting to know about the place that she grew up and about the creatures that she had met. So Delphini took comfort in telling her new friend all about the creatures that made up the mists. She much rather talk about the animals and things that she had seen then talk about the Witch. 

Food was good and she gladly ate her fill never having the opportunity to before this moment. Scorpius talked about his family a bit more and some of the classes that he thought that he would like. He thought that he would like defense against the dark arts as he was excited to learn how to battle, and he was very interested in charms as he said it was one of the more useful things that a Wizard could know. Delphini thought that she would be rather fond of Care for Magical Creatures as it was taught by Hagrid and because well she just knew a lot about them, having met quite a few of them. Herbology with Professor Longbottom did not sound all that bad either though if she was him, she might have elected to go with his first name. 

They were given a tour of the school by a perfect and Delphini took to looking at the many pictures that moved they were captivating. They could talk to her and she wondered what it was like to live in a painting. She also noted that the suits of armor moved their heads to the side as she passed. She liked the ghosts that moved around the halls too, they were very fascinating. 

Scorpius thought it was a bit odd her fascination, but he seemed to understand that he had grown up privileged enough to have seen magic his whole life first hand and Delphini had hardly seen anything of it. The dungeon dorms were not as bad as she thought, but it did give meaning to the idea of a snake pit as they were underground. She was a bit disappointed with the lack of snakes though. SHe would have thought that there would at least be one in the room as a mascot or something. 

She went upstairs early so that she could get a goodnight's sleep. She would check on Aniz in the morning and then go to her first class. Care for Magical Creatures was going to be great and then broom lessons. She was really excited. There was also the fact that she would be able to spend time with Scorpius as they were in all the same classes.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you that were wondering about the AU time frame. I was thinking about incorporating this somehow into the story but I feel that I should probably mention it because I can guess that the timeline would seem confusing. 
> 
> Wizarding War vs Voldemort ended nearly 11 years ago. 
> 
> Delphine - middle of year birthday making her 12 but still accepted as a first-year due to birthday placement. Born during the war somewhere just before the battle of Hogwarts, born in secret and quickly hidden as both parents went to the final battle.
> 
> Scorpius- just turned 11 was slightly shy of the cut off date. Malfoys were eager to get something happy in their life after the war. The marriage between the Greengrass family and Malfoy was already arranged shortly after with the help of potions they were expecting.
> 
> Albus- 11 oldest of the Potter children born, unexpected but no less loved. Product of I am so glad to be alive and your alive were together love making pretty much just after the battle of Hogwarts. (Yes I know that its a bit out of order and don't worry Harry still has 3 kids) 
> 
> Rose- 11 born prematurely and conceived about a month after the war. Her being sick really bonded and cemented Hermione and Ron's relationship. 
> 
> On with the story!

Chapter 4 

Scorpius was one of the better things about school. Delphini found that her first night at the castle was lonely the second that she was not in his presence. The girls were quick to huddle on their half of the dorm room. They would send her worried glances any time that she tried to interact. 

She had tried to introduce herself and say hi on multiple occasions but nothing seemed to work their answers were simple nods or they would ignore her like they had not heard her. it was really discouraging. She easily stopped trying after the brief hellos and goodnights after the first 20 seemed to have no effect. The whole house was a little weirded out by her and Scorpius know that she thought about it. She did not understand why. What had she done to deserve the silent treatment by any of the houses or people in the school? 

The prefect had mentioned house unity, that everyone should treat each other like family, and compose themselves with dignity as Slytherin was a noble house and had a tarnished reputation due to darkened wizards. It was up to the new generations to change that image. The house apparently would not tolerate anyone that thought that they could bully other students or praise blood status. Delphini had felt Scorpius stiffen near her, somehow it almost felt like that speech was directed at the two of them and perhaps a couple of others. 

Either way, it was hard when she was not with him. The other houses were not as loud with their whispering, nor as obvious as the other Slytherins but DElphini could feel their eyes on her. she could feel the cold stares even if she could not hear the cold statements that were hiding behind them. 

She had a feeling that they were scared of her. She had never interacted with them and they seemed to move away from her as if she had the plague. it was not much better for her only friend either. they called him names like death eater and a few other insults that were directed more towards his father than him. 

She stuck close to him and he stuck close to her, that was just the way things were and that was just really all that Delphini needed. She tried to satisfy herself with the fact that she had at least one friend. 

After a particularly interesting lesson in charms they made their way outside the castle so that they could get some sun, their house, after all, was in the dungeons and sun was not something that was easy to come by. They made their way down towards the bottom of the hill that the castle stood on top of and sat under one of the large stones and trees cast shade. 

The dam broke so to speak the second that she was away from everyone else and they were surronded by nature. It might have just been the feeling of freedom that hit at last, or it was the fact that there was no one there to bother them outside. 

She could see Hagrid's hut down at the edge of the forest and knew that he wasn't available as he was still teaching. Even if they were done for the day not everyone else was. It was a Friday afternoon and there was nothing to do. 

"Its been a week." Delphini finally sighed. "I can't get any of my roommates to talk to me for more than a minute. They all seem to think I am going to hex them or something."

"I would be happy if mine left me alone." Scorpus rested his head against the tree behind him. He sighed slightly as he did so.

Her magic flared up. "I heard what they were calling you, and while I don't know what a Death Eater is I do know that it is not a very nice term. I heard them calling me it as well. IF they have been hurting you..."

He shook his head and she felt the magic flow out of her. "They have just been calling me things, it's fine. It doesn't bother me all that much."

"I know it does." Delphini held her knees bringing them up closer to her chest. "It's not right for them to hate us, we didn't do anything."

She was just as angry as she was hurt, she had hoped to get away from everything like this. She thought she had been leaving the awfulness far behind her at that cliffside. It was as if the world wanted her to pay or something for just existing. 

"The war was a bad one. Lots of people were killed." Scorpius looked out towards the field. "It makes sense why they don't like us, our parents were on the wrong side. My father got off because of all the testimony that he put in and helped to find other Death Eaters. He never wanted to be one. Harry Potter knew that he helped the best that he could. Grandmother was able to get off as well for her help in the final battle in protecting him. My grandfather went back to Azkaban he will probably be there for the next 15 years if we're lucky he'll get out sooner."

"I don't understand what the war was even about." Delphini took up a fist full of grass throwing it into the wind. "I wasn't alive really for it. I was maybe a month old when my parents went to fight in that final battle."

"I don't really think I am the best at describing things but I could try to tell you what was happening." Scorpius offered. 

It was tempting. It really was, but the hair on her back of her neck rose with a bad feeling and she decided against it. 

No, she let out a deep breath leaning back so that she was in the grass flattening it and looking up at the sky. I don't want to talk about that stuff anymore. I look into it eventually. I just want to enjoy the weather."

He nodded looking to where she was. He was only silent for a couple of moments. "I know a few charms that change the shape of clouds." 

she shifted her eyes to him. "You know I would like to see that in a little bit. I think that it's nice watching them just the way that they are."

I suppose. Scorpius shimmied down so that he was lying next to her and they were looking at the sky.

"That one looks like a bird." Delphini felt a need to point out.

"That one looks like a broom." Scorpius pointed to the one above it. 

It went back and forward for a bit before Delphini let Scorpius show her that spell. He made little cauldrons, wands, and quills. She moved a bit closer to him so that he could show her the wand movements. She made an owl and then a snake. He was still holding her wand helping her. 

"Should have known that you would pick a snake." 

She rolled her eyes. "I like them." 

"I know," Scorpius said plainly. 

They spent Saturday outside wandering around the grounds. Eventually, Delphini found a snake and sat by it to have a small conversation. It twisted around in her hand and on her arm before making its way towards a creak in the wall.

"You can really hear more than hissing." Scporious seemed to have been watching her with fascination.

She nodded. "Yes, some have more to say than others. She told me that there were large mice beyond the field if we needed help hunting."

"Do they talk about other things?" He knelt down so he could watch the snake leave. 

"Like what?" She asked turning to him in her confusion. 

"Like people what they are doing or what they have been saying?" Scorpius had a strange look in his eyes. 

He was the curious sort probably would have been better off a Ravenclaw. But then she was sure that he had some ambition to be the best person he could be. It just seemed that no one wanted to give him a chance. She wondered for a moment if their friendship made it harder for both of them to make friends. Surely it would be hard enough to be friends with one death eater's kid than have the packaged deal. 

"I have never really asked one for that before, but I suppose that they could."

She had never thought to use them for that. You would think that she would have considered if she could have befriended one at the cliffside she would have gotten a lot of knowledge about the Witch and what she was up to. 

She frowned a tad thinking about her. 

"So father was right," Scorpius muttered.

"I mean most of them tell great tales." Delphini tried to shift the topic. "The ones by my house would tell of a couple that lived at the end of the forest, they had 3 kids. One would tell me of the time they almost got eaten when they were a small snake about the size of a large leaf. The largest one would tell me of how people hunted it. That it now was large enough to kill them if they tried." 

He slowly stood. "We should probably head in we missed lunch and if we miss dinner I think well be in trouble."

"I think they are happier without us," Delphini muttered to herself as they made their way back up to the castle. 

Sunday she hid herself in the library and took out books that seemed to have come out recently about Harry Potter and the last wizarding war. 

There were mentions of a man named Voldemort and his followers, they were called Death Eaters. Their side was not painted in a very favorable light regardless of the resources that she checked. Not that she agreed with the idea of blood or really didn't disagree with it either. She was aware that some people were Muggle-born as it was called, some people were half-bloods, and very few were purebloods. But she really did not know if it was true or not about the magic capability, by her understanding the Malfoys were a pureblood family. Maybe that just added to the reason that people didn't like Scorpius. 

IF her parents were Death Eaters or sympathizers then it would make sense that they believed in magic capability through bloodline or that Muggle-born students were a threat. She did not know much about either but perhaps there was some truth to it if there were so many people that believed it enough to die for the cause or to follow someone like Voldemort. She dug a little deeper and was able to find some lineages that were pure blood. There seemed to be strict rules about marriage for that sort of thing. She wondered if there were problems with such selective marriages. She wondered if Scourpus would be bound by that or if purity was going away what with the last war seemingly fought over it. 

reading about the war made her a bit sick to her stomach, she didn't fully understand it and she was not sure that she wanted to either. When she looked through the books there were no mentions of the name Riddle. Her family could not have been pure-blood then they had to be half-bloods. 

She moved towards the other sections as the hours passed and she felt as if she needed a break from the ideas of war and the hopelessness of figuring out just who her parents were. 

Was there a book about snakes or talking to them? That would at least be a refreshing read. She could really use one of those to help teach Scorpius maybe he wouldn't be so afraid if he understood them. Then again evil wizards were supposed to be people those that could talk to snakes. Salizar was the one that seemed to be the type to have that ability. Her search landed her into looking into Hogwarts a history volume one and she would have to check out the newer one that had newer information about the castle. She checked the book out and set to reading it at lunch. 

Scorpius was reading his charms book. "Did you finish your essay?" 

"No." She continued reading.

"Do you need help with it?" He moved a bit closer to see what she was reading.

She hesitated. She was unused to asking for help because before there was no one that would have helped her. 

"Yes," she finally admitted. "I understand potions just fine, it's like cooking. But the waving of the wands and words are annoying. I like just moving my hand and making what I picture happen."

"Wandless magic is hard to do."

"I suppose I just didn't have a wand up until this point. So I just thought really hard about it sometimes it would slip away from me and just happen."

"Accidental magic." Scorpius smiled, "the first time it happened to me I made the tart my mother hand brought me to explode." 

"Wasn't she mad?" Delphini tried to remember the first time that she had used magic. She hadn't even known that she was doing it. She could remember plenty of times things shattering when she was angry and she knew that she had also made a few things hover when there was too much of a magic build up. The Witch had always been mad when any of those things happened even if she could wave her wand and fix it, she punished Delphini for it. 

She bit her lip at the thought of the Witch, she had to figure out summer plans. There had to be somewhere that she could go besides back there. 

"well she was not happy with the fit I made about not liking the one that she gave me but I think she was happy to see I had magic." Scorpius was finishing up his story and Delphini felt a bit bad for not paying attention. 

"Can people be born without magic from people that have magic?" Delphini put the book to the side trying to make up for it and give her friend her full attention, because if she didn't then who would?

"Yah they are called squibs." He shrugged. " I think most of them head back into the muggle world."

"I wonder if that is how Muggle-borns come to be." Delphini played with her hair.

"It's a good theory, a couple of people studied it." Scorpius relented. "My grandmother probably would not like it if that was true or at the very least I know that my grandfather would be very angry." 

"I am sure my parents wouldn't have either." Delphini agreed, though for all she knew her parents could have been forced into trying to help with the war. It seemed that a lot of people didn't want to fight for Voldemort but did not have a choice. Delphini wasn't going to judge someone for trying to protect their family. 

Scorpius did end up helping her get started on her charms essay, not that she wanted to really do it. She had done everything else that was asked of her, but the stupid charms essay. 

Delphini was correct she liked Magical Creatures the best even if Hagrid was really kind to that Rose girl and Potter's son. Rose didn't seem to like that he was in Slytherin and Albus didn't seem to like that fact either. Delphini had only really understood why Hagrid was being nice to them after the lesson because Rose stayed after like Delphini because she apparently wanted to talk to Hagrid. Her parents were his friends it seemed. 

Delphini had decided to leave after that, she would check up later to see if Hagrid would have been okay with her talking to him more about large snakes and magical creatures. 

Longbottom was a good professor. Plants were not all that hard for her to understand nor take care of. She got used to her soft-spoken professor so any time that he raised his voice about a safety concern almost made her jump out of her skin. 

It was the only other class besides Magical Creatures that Delphini shared with Rose. They would probably also have flying together as that was going to start up soon. Rose was almost insufferable, she was incredibly smart and would take most the points available for any lesson before anyone else had the chance to answer. Delphini knew the answers too, she just was not as quick with her hand raising. 

Rose not only was smart but she was like a queen bee, everyone knew who her parents were and flocked to her like honey. Rose seemed nice enough to most of them and that perhaps was what made her all that more alluring to others. Even Scorpius admitted that he thought she seemed nice enough.

Scorpius was to kind for his own well being. He didn't hold it against people that they did not like him. He didn't treat the comments like personal attacks either. Delphini knew his forgiveness of Rose was nothing short of him just being a decent human being. 

Delphini, on the other hand, couldn't let it go, it felt like there was something in that smile that was too perfect and it was not her slight jealousy showing. She was not jealous of Rose. She wouldn't and couldn't be. 

Delphini wanted friends sure but she did not want them to follow her around like lovesick puppy dogs nor would she want them to only be interested in her because she was famous. it would be nice to have friends but those were not the type of people that she wanted to be friends with. 

No Delphini did not like Rose for another reason. She did not like her because of the fact that she seemed to have a prejudice against Slytherins and she didn't like the way that Rose looked at both herself and Scorpius. If anything Delphini felt that her obvious dislike of them encouraged others not to trust or like them. 

Perhaps disliking Rose just made somethings a bit easier, it gave her someone to blame. Delphini had never really felt this way before. She was frustrated that no matter how great she did in class, no matter how friendly she seemed, no one wanted to talk or hang about her. 

No one but Scorpius and she wondered if he was just doing that so that he wouldn't be alone.

She played with magic enough to cast a small storm cloud that sparked lighting every so often a fake rained. She sat in the ruins letting it rain a bit onto the plants that were near her. 

"I'm so lonely." She whispered to the wind. "I think being around people made it worse than it helped." 

Because all that she could see when she was here was what she did not have. Letters from student's families came during the morning post, friends gathered after class, and older students snuck kisses behind professors' backs. These were things that she had never dreamed of wanting. Being alone and just being alone was a lonely thing. She had wished for friends and she wanted to get out. But she had not been exposed to all the things that she was missing out on.

How wonderful hugs were. She had only gotten a few from Scorpius and she felt that they were something that she wanted more of. She saw all the affection and she wanted to be sick because no one had ever been that way to her before and there was only one person that seemed to be able to give her any sort of positive attention. 

She rubbed at her face. She was nearly a month into school and she was starting to hate it. She wondered how she could steel her heart so that it would not long for things as stupid as more than the friendship that she had. One that she was questioning if he even liked her or if she was just someone to be with till someone else saw that he wasn't so bad, once you were able to look past who he was related to. 

They didn't even know who she was related to and they hated her. 

The cloud drifted over and started raining on her face, it had to be because her face was wet and it had been forever since she cried. 

There were footsteps behind her and she turned to see Scorpius. She buried herself a little further into her arms. Riddles didn't cry, in front of others. She held herself to that standard. She didn't know if it was a pride thing because the Witch seemed to like it when she did, claimed that she was breaking through to her, or if it was because she just didn't like to cry period end of story. 

Emotions were horrible things really...

"Hi," he said uneasily it seemed in approaching her since the rain cloud had gotten bigger around her. "Do you mind if I dispell you cloud?"

She shook her head and Scorpius dispelled it, well he tried to and it attacked itself onto him and started to rain on him. He had to fight with it as it chased after him for a few feet, before he could get enough distance to aim straight. 

It was stupid but it made her laugh, it made her laugh despite the tears in her eyes and made her face hurt because she never really smiled that large. 

"I got it." He came back and tried to look like he was fine despite the fact that his clothes were wet. He walked with dignity that she supposed only a Malfoy could muster. 

"I think it got you first though." She snorted as she looked at his face. 

He wasn't upset but he huffed anyway as he sat down. "I don't want to try a drying spell last time it shrunk my robes."

"I could try." Delphini picked up her wand. 

"It's alright." He pushed it down with his palm and changed the subject. "I was looking for you." 

She looked away, towards the forbidden forest and Hagrid's hut that she had a decent view of hidden in some part of a tower that had probably collapsed a long time ago. 

"I went out here to think." 

To be alone her mind supplied and as if he read it he shifted closer to her. 

"I didn't want to leave you alone." Scorpius stared out at the forest too. 

They sat in silence for a while the bell signaling that class would start in 5 minutes rung loudly from the courtyard. 

"I am glad you came after me she finally spoke standing up slowly." 

"Well, you're my best friend." Scoupous shrugged. "Course I'll come after you."

"I am your only friend," Delphini said with a little more bite than she meant to.

"That too..." He took her hand that she offered to help him up. 

"I am grateful by the way that you are my friend." She hugged him and he went a bit stiff by that before slowly hugging her back.


	5. Chapter 5

Delphini stood out in the courtyard with a broom at her feet. She never saw anyone fly on a broom before and when Scorpius said that was what flying lessons intitled she had sort of laughed. Because she really thought that was one of those things in stories, she supposed that to play games on booms one had to know how to fly a broom. 

She didn't hate the idea of flying Aniz had made her want to do it more than her childish notions of flying away as a child. She was facing the flying instructor who was an older man that apparently had once play professionally that broomstick sport and had attended Hogwarts. Professor Wood held himself with pride and grace. He talked about flying as if it was the most liberating but also one of the most potentially dangerous things that a wizard could do. 

Delphini was no expert but Professor Lovegood's talk about how messing around with spells could cause death by exploding was a bit more intimidating than the idea of falling to her death from a broom. The way that Delphini saw it to make new magic was to take a risk of hurting someone or yourself. You didn't have to fly because there were other modes of transportation. you could go the muggle way what with cars and trains or you could go by fireplace which she had heard about or apperation which she pictured to be much like teleportation. 

There was not much that she could do she supposed then try to get the stupid broom up in the air if for nothing else but to pass the course. Delphini was not going to have it be said that she ever got a bad mark. She didn't know her parents but she wanted to do the Riddle name proud. 

Rose was standing down the line and to her left. No one was facing her and Scorpius was next to her at the very end of the line. Albus was shoved closer to them as most Slytherins did not take kindly to the fact that he was close to Rose, just like Rose seemed to not like the idea that he had to hang around Slytherins. Delphini frowned when she caught Rose looking her way. Stupid redhead, she thought bitterly. 

"Alright so first things first we need you to get the broom to activate, what you need to do is command the broom to come up into your hand. Best tell it with feeling. Wood held out his hand over his broomstick and commanded it with a single word." 

"UP." The broom flew up into his hand. "well start with that, once most of you have activated brooms we will mount them and try a bit of hovering." 

He nodded at them to try and Delphini took a quick and calming breath. 

"UP." She commanded and the broom shot up first try into her hand. 

Rose scowled and then said Up, and then Up again with more feeling and her broom was the second broom up. 

"Well done Delphini and Rose." Wood acknowledged. 

Scorpius was soon to follow on getting his broom to listen to him. "I think it just takes a harsh word." He smiled at her. 

Most of their year had their brooms up, one however that seemed to be struggling was Albus. He kept saying up and getting more and more frustrated as the broom was sort of bouncing on the ground. 

"It doesn't listen if you get upset with it." Wood tried to help. "It has to be with feeling but not anger, you need to convince it to let you fly it." 

Albus fussed with it for a few more moments before Wood just shook his head and had the rest of the kids that had figured it out try mounting their brooms and hovering. 

Delphini balanced herself on the broom and lifted her feet. it was a rather simple thing to do she felt. The old broom was steady beneath her and she soon just let go of it content to sit on it sideways as she watched the rest of her classmates get themselves up at least into the air. 

The rest of the class was boring as Wood explained how to steer and that they would be trying to actually fly next week. 

After class to her surprise, people were talking amongst themselves, not of the potential death eaters in their mist but of poor Albus and how pathetic it was that he could not even get the broom off the ground. Delphini tried not to feel bad about it. Albus was getting in her own opinion karma for making some rather unpleasant statements to others in their house. 

Scorpius was a bit bolder and told Albus to ignore them. Albus shrugged him off and headed away from everyone else. 

"You shouldn't have bothered." Delphini shook her head looking at Scorpius that seemed like he had been bitten by a snake.

"I thought I could at least try." Scorpius looked off in the direction that Albis had went. 

"I wouldn't bother he is like Rose, he hates Slytherins for some reason. I don't think its dawned on him that he is one of us and the only way to change it would be to beg the hat for a resort." 

"I don't think Rose hates Slytherins..." Scorpius started.

Delphini shot him a look. "Have you heard her? Not a witch or wizard that didn't go wrong in Slytherin my father says." She mimicked her voice.

Scorpius shook his head. "There is no need to be mean about it Delphi." 

She let out a soft sigh. "She was mean first." It sounded stupid to her own ears. "I just she is always at us, I can't believe you think she is nice." 

"I don't really think she is all that nice, she has some nice qualities though." 

Delphini blinked. "If you say her hair I swear." 

"No, heh." Scorpius held up his hands waving them. "she is just nice to her friends you know." 

Delphini sighed through her nose. "Well I suppose that is a redeeming quality, but that should be something that any decent person does." 

"Well, that's because you are just the most decent of decent people." Scorpius suppressed a laugh as she swatted at him.

"So..." she shifted topics "Do you like flying or should I say hovering?" 

Scorpius laughed at that one. "I have flown before, my father bought me a broom when I was 6 it was the kind that was pretty slow but I could easily handle. I used to chase after a large stuffed snitch that he enchanted. grandmother almost died when Father suggested that I could try his racing broom." 

"Your family sounds so nice." Delphini smiled slightly. 

He knew that family was a hard topic for her, he rubbed at his head. "Maybe you could come up winter break." 

She felt a bit of warmth enter her heart. "I would like that, I would like that a lot." 

They made their way to Magical Creatures. Albus was absent and everyone was claiming it was because he was embarrassed about his broom skills being nonexistent. 

Delphini tried not to smile at how hot that made Rose around the collar. She knew that she was being really petty, considering she didn't like Rose for the very point of her friends and her being rude to Slytherins. Perhaps it was childish of her to be happy about it, but she really didn't care. 

They learned a little about unicorns. Delphini liked them, she supposed that they were supposed to be liked what with the way that they were white and shiny as if the sun hit their coat and it was made of sparkles. it was really the eyes that won her over. Just because they were large and had long eyelashes around them. Hagrid talked about how they were basically pure light magic, that killing one would be not only a crime but was outlawed because of their blood. The blood could heal near anything but had a terrible curse associated with it. 

Her wand had one of their pretty hairs in it. She told the unicorn that after class when Hagrid let her stay behind to pet it. 

Rose stayed after to and she kept her nose in the air. When she was close enough to pet the unicorn that Delphini was petting she leaned in so she could whisper. Hagrid was distracted by Scorpius's probably endless questions, but Rose wanted to say something that she would not be overheard saying.

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing." Her pretty eyes flashed, "I don't know what you want from Hagrid but you stay away from him. He is a good wizard and doesn't need to fraternize with your kind."

"Excuse me?" Delphini raised her voice what did you just say? My kind?"

"Death Eaters," Rose said matter of factly. 

"I'm not a Death Eater." Delphini hissed. "Its rude to label people, that would be no better than me calling you a slur." 

"What would you even call me huh?" Rose scowled "I'm not a Muddblood like I am sure you want to call my mother. She, by the way, is a better witch then you will ever be. You want to call my father a blood traitor for marrying her, well too bad I don't care." 

"I don't want to call you anything but an absolute jerk." Delphini shoved Rose away from her. "I can be friends with whoever I want." 

Her magic was surging and the unicorns moved away from her. 

Hagrid chose that time to make his way over. "what is going on here?" He glanced between the girls worriedly. Rose was on the ground and Delphini was standing over her. 

"Don't call me a death eater!" Delphini spat. "I'm not one. Scorpius isn't either." 

Scorpius went and pulled her a bit away. "Calm down Delphi, you're scaring the unicorns." 

She took a couple of breaths knowing that he was right. She glared at Rose that was acting more hurt by Delphini than she actually was. 

"You can't go round calling people Death Eaters." Hagrid helped Rose up and helped her dust off the hay that had stuck to her robes. 

"Well, she shouldn't say that I don't belong here." Rose shot back.

"I never said that." Delphini struggled to get back at Rose. She was trying to turn Hagrid against her. She could be friends with whoever she wanted. 

Hagrid looked between them again. "I think its best that we all split on good terms here. No one is unwanted at this school, that's what people died for in the war to give everyone a right to education not just purebloods. Delphini is not a pureblood, and neither are you Rose so don't be bringing blood into things. Delphini here is not more a death eater than I am."

That made her relax. Scorpius sighed in relief as she unclenched her fist.

"All that being said don't go pushing people Delphini even if they make comments."

She nodded numbly. 

"I won't be takin points this time so you all just get back up to the castle now." 

When they were towards the castle Delphini and Scorpius shifted off to the ruined tower where they hung out if the weather was good. Delphini marched up there as quickly as possible and collapsed down into the tall grass. she closed her eyes feeling the earth under her and feeling safe in the place that they could be away from others. 

She could hear slight whispers to the place if she closed her eyes long enough and looked for traces of magic. 

"I'm glad to be here, but you almost lost me with your rush to get here." Scorpius panted a little as he took in large breaths, from having to power walk to keep up.

"She is impossible, next time I might just hex her. Telling me that I would carpet Hagrid." Delphini hissed into the grass.

"Don't hex her we don't want to get points off." 

"We?" She blinked. 

"Well if you hex her, who do you think is going to have to block spells for you from her friends?" Scorpius folded his arms. 

"I mean maybe I won't hex her maybe just make something inconvenience her." Delphini was touched by his offer. "Maybe you should have been in Gryffindor."

"Godrics no." Scorpius shook his head. "I was thinking perhaps a prank may be in order. Course we can't get caught."

"No that's the idea of pranks." Delphini nodded, "it's fine if they think they know, but we can't leave any evidence."

"I would suggest snakes since she is scared of them, but that would be far too obvious." 

Delphini nodded. "If we're going to get her back it has to be something that she wouldn't expect." 

"Vanishing ink is a classic." He suggested. 

"She would dispell it." Delphini shook her head. "It has to be an inconvenience that won't do more than slightly embarrass her. I don't want to be accused of intentionally hurting a student." 

That could get her expelled which to Delphini would probably be a fate worse than death. 

"We could turn her potion a diffrent color. it would be harmless and she would think there was something wrong with it." 

"I was thinking more of a note and a glittering charm," Delphini admitted. "They were easy pranks but ones that were annoying to clean up after, it was even hard to spell away all that stuff." 

Scorpius nodded, "I will write the card."

It was a couple of days before they had a real plan, as it stood the plan was for it to be all the house colors but Griffindor red as that would feel a little more of an attack from all the houses. Slytheren would be probably blamed but hey at least there would not be able to prove anything and no one would be hurt. 

Scorpius planned on making the note be some sorta poem and she let him do what he wanted with it. The note could be easy enough to slip into Rose's bag during Hybology as they all had to go into the back cabinet. It wouldn't be able to be done until Friday so they had about a day to wait. 

Rose had started more rummors it seemed about what happened around the unicorn corral and Delphini finally let people have it for calling her names by staring them down and glaring at them. It seemed effective even if Lovegood commented something about not letting Nargels win. Whatever a Nagel was it was not in the Magic Creatures and Cryptids Encylopidia that she had looked up. 

Some creatures in that book were rather horrifying. 

On Thursday they had their second flying lesson. Abus managed to get his broom up but not to actually hover enough to start practicing turning and moving on it. 

Delphini didn't go over the exact 4 ft hight restriction that Wood had given but that did not stop her from zipping around as fact as the training broom would allow. She wanted something to chase so Scorpius sort of raced her around. They apparently were too fast and had to stop and take it back to a snail pace. 

After the lesson, Scorpius sighed. "My baby broom goes faster than what he'll let us fly." 

He wasn't really the type to complain, and Delphini could not agree more. "I know. I want to go faster, do you think that I could do that game on brooms?"

"Quidditch?"

She nodded.

"First years don't get on the house teams, but maybe second year you could try out." 

She sighed, "Or maybe I could pull a Harry Potter you just need to throw something for me to catch at the start of class."

"Wood would probably freak did you see the way he whipped over to make sure that Daphne wouldn't fall the 3ft she was up," Scorpius spoke matter of factually. 

She nodded in thought true, "but he wouldn't be able to catch it on his broom at the speed you could throw it to me if he was across the field." 

"What are you scheming now?" Sara Tribble was one of the Gryffindors that was friends with Rose. 

"If I were scheming you would know." Delphini moved past her. She decided to take a less passive role in her bullying situation she was going to act like she didn't give a flying owl about what they said about her. Scorpius had followed her lead. 

That night Scorpius made sure to make a card or rather a poem on a peice of enchanted parchment. 

_________________________________________

All the houses of the school are noble and true  
There is Hufflepuffs triumphant yellow  
Ravenclaws humble blue  
Slythern gentle green  
Griffindor royally red  
Define the school the best ever seen.  
Red is missing from the team.  
Only when houses are united do they matter  
So be careful with your thoughtless banter. 

~~~~Hogwarts ~~~~~

__________________________________________

He showed her after he thought that he got it all sorted and she had rolled her eyes at the thing that could be concidered a poem in her hands. Scoprius definitely was something. She liked that something but sometimes even he was a bit too weird for her. 

The next day in Hybology Delphini made sure to put the card in Rose's bag. It was not even a challenge. Delphini had been stealing and replacing things all of her life that wouldn't change even with enchantments woven into something as simple as a school bag.

They didn't get to see Rose open it. But they heard about it from a couple of people that it had been Sara that had taken the card out of Rose's bag to tease her about a boy sneaking her a note only for them both to be doused with glitter after there was a slight scuffle of Rose trying to get it back from her.

The best part about the card was it would keep going until it was closed and then dispelled, so there were pounds of yellow, green, and blue confetti everywhere. There were still traces of it days after sticking securely and stubbornly to the stone floor. 

Rumors of who would do such a thing circulated but no one suspected Delphini or Scorpius because they were just "Death Eaters" they wouldn't pull a prank unless it was to hurt someone. Dephini shook her head the houses were still as divided as ever, but it felt nice to get back at Rose.


End file.
